Deadbeat Illinois: State already ranks last in state-education funding

Monday

Mar 4, 2013 at 12:01 AMMar 4, 2013 at 3:04 AM

It’s hard to visualize what a $768 million educational funding shortfall looks like.

In general terms, it means every student attending a public school in Illinois was cheated an average $1,100 meant for his or her education since 2010.

It’s even harder to imagine tacking on an additional $400 million to that figure, but that’s exactly what Gov. Pat Quinn told school districts in January to expect come 2014.

Ariel Cheung

It’s hard to visualize what a $768 million educational funding shortfall looks like.

In general terms, it means every student attending a public school in Illinois was cheated an average $1,100 meant for his or her education since 2010.

It’s even harder to imagine tacking on an additional $400 million to that figure, but that’s exactly what Gov. Pat Quinn told school districts in January to expect come 2014.

Since 2010, the state has come up lacking in general state aid for Illinois public school districts every year, shorting them $518 million for the 2012-13 school year alone, according to Illinois State Board of Education data. As districts large and small struggle to get by, additional cuts could start impacting classrooms and, on a larger scale, the future of a state that now ranks dead last in state education funding.

Currently, two-thirds of Illinois school districts are operating in the red, said Matt Vanover, an Illinois State Board of Education spokesman.

In addition, the state provides less than 30 percent of funding for public schools, with the rest being met by local and federal resources, Vanover said.

“There’s any number of ways reduction in state funding for education has affected schools,” Vanover said. “It has meant schools have had to find different ways to sustain cuts. We’ve seen districts throughout Illinois eliminating athletics and extra-curricular activities, shortening school days.”

One high school in the Chicago suburbs was forced to shorten its school day to such an extent that, upon graduation, students would not have enough credits to be accepted to the University of Illinois, Vanover said.

“It’s getting to the point where you’re going to see significant cutbacks that are impacting the classrooms,” he said.

Which is why the Illinois State Board of Education is asking Quinn and the General Assembly for a 13.4-percent increase for fiscal year 2014, including a $741 million increase in general state aid.

“After several reductions in this area in previous budgets, it is time to reaffirm our commitment to the state’s youngest learners,” ISBE officials wrote in their proposal. “The increase would reverse a trend of cuts that are impacting student learning and improve the financial health of districts across the state.”

Since 2010, the state has prorated the amount of funding it gives to the ISBE to distribute to school districts, which meant this year, schools only received 89 percent of what they were promised by the state.

“Current state law sets the foundation level at $6,119 per student, and that’s been the case since 2010,” Vanover said. “But last year and the year before, the General Assembly didn’t provide enough funding to meet that level. That’s just the bottom line.”

For the current fiscal year, the ISBE received only $5,734 per student — the lowest amount since 2008.

And with rumors that the proration could drop to as low as 80 percent, districts are scrambling to make ends meet.

Springfield Public Schools has a plan to reduce spending by $5 million by the end of the 2013-14 school year, which includes the elimination of 22 teaching positions, 25 special education attendants and almost a dozen other positions.

Earlier this month, the school board approved an additional $6 million in cuts in anticipation of the potential loss of another $4 million in state funding.

Smaller school districts are also feeling the impact of the declining state aid; Galesburg District 205 is expecting to receive $2.6 million less from the state in 2014 than it did in 2009, said Jim Rich, interim assistant superintendent for finance and operations.

“I would say it (affects the quality of education) a great deal,” Rich said. “Administrators and teachers are trained to build programs, and it’s so much harder to tear down programs. Any time we’re trying to hold the line or reduce something, we’re taking something away.”

Shortfall in FY 2013 general state aid: $518,176,370

Shortfall since 2010: $768,393,406
Amount per student schools are supposed to receive: $6,119
Amount per student received in 2013: $5,734
67: Percentage of schools operating in deficit this year
89 percent: 2013 proration rate, which created a $518 million shortfall
80 percent: Speculated 2014 proration rate, creating $400 million shortfall
Source: State Board of Education